Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Hard work and dedication

The article from England titled, Medieval Marathon Man Finally Finishes at first struck me as humorous. It said, “Eight days after the London Marathon began, a man dressed in some very heavy metal finally dragged himself and his pet dragon across the finish line.” Then went on to describe the man dressed in full medieval knight armor and dragging a dragon behind and his quest to raise money for a children’s charitable organization a children's leukemia charity.

The headlines were quite funny, the photo of this guy really made it that way, when you think he him ran the slowest marathon ever that adds to it. Then it struck me that this poor guy had to go to that great length to raise any funds whatsoever and it saddened me.

I have a good friend who has been working since 1988 with a non-profit organization called, New Parents Network, their mission is to help children worldwide by reaching families with parenting information through the creative use of technology. Their website can be visited at, www.npn.org and she has dedicated a large portion of her life to insure the mission statement of her company is achieved.

I have learned over the years through my friendship with the founder of New Parents Network that it takes hard work, dedication and as much tenacity as humanly possible to achieve your goal as this person in England did.

We all tend to forget that there are people out there who are striving to make a difference in this world. There are many more people as this man in the knight armor dragging their own personal dragons around in their quest to make a difference in this life. Their personal dedication to their goals is awe-inspiring and I as others forget that until an article like this come into play.

I have watched my friend with New Parents Network dedicate herself to her quest, her goal and I confess that I have gained more respect for her than any other person in my life and I have learned that one does not have to wear armor to be a hero for she has become just that to me, my hero. Her selfless dedication and work is an inspiration to me and I applaud her.

No comments: